For the safety of all of our customers we are issuing an immediate recall of certain batches of Wild Country Classic Rocks and Anodised Rocks.

If you own any Wild Country Classic Rocks and/or Anodised Rocks that were purchased any time from January 2010 onwards please read this notice carefully and follow the instructions “How to
Identify the Product”, so that you can ascertain whether your product is from one of the affected batches.

Reason for the recall:
Following a recent failure in use of a Classic Rock, in which fortunately no injury occurred, we conducted an in depth investigation and an extensive testing programme. Following the testing of over 17,000 Rocks we found some units that did not achieve their rated strength. The rated strength of Rocks varies, depending upon the size, from 4kN to 12kN. In a very small number of cases the failure load was below the units rated strength and in some cases below 7kN; a peak load that can be realistically achieved during a fall.

The problems that we found were most apparent in Classic Rocks batch JBE. However, we cannot guarantee that other batches and Anodised Rocks are not also affected and therefore have taken the decision to recall all units with the identified batches noted below.

Our first priority is always the safety of our climbing and mountaineering colleagues and customers, therefore we have taken the decision to recall the Rocks with the identified batch codes.
We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause, and thank you in advance for your cooperation in helping us to recover as many of the affected Rocks as possible.

How to identify the product:

The products affected by this recall are Classic Rocks and Anodised Rocks, with any of the following batch codes: AG AH BII JBE
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Wild Country and Expedition Equipment are committed to the safety of all of our customers and climbing friends. If you could please inspect your units and quarantine any affected units so that we can organise a return on these products.

If you own any Wild Country Anodised or Classic Rocks, please inspect these units and proceed accordingly.

The best procedure for returning your gear will be through your retailer, however if you need to contact us directly, please do so at ( sales (at) expeditionequipment (dot) com (dot) au )

I have a stack of these, and they were bought at various time from various places and I couldn't even tell you which ones were from where. I was going to go through the web recall process, but could I just go through any retailer or through you guys?

Hi Wendy,
If you're not sure of where they were purchased (entirely understandable given the nature of gear purchasing), that's fine. If you're nearby one of our retailers, then that may be the quickest option, however if you're not nearby, send us an email and we'll get the process started.

If, as mentioned in your other post, you're having trouble identifying the batch, feel free to send us an email with a photo attached, of have the a store inspect the units too. If, in the case, identification is not possible, we will advised on the next step.

I'm feeling that I made a mistake by following the recall directions from Wild Country.
Got the return documentation and sent it off. The Austpost tracking shows it delivered on 11/10. The oberalp website history shows no activity beyond 8/10. Not even marked as received.
Should have hung onto them and returned to Phil at the shop on the weekend.

Think ive been nluck that out of all the WC rocks i got only 3 of them are in batch AG. Shame its the 3 sizes i use the most.
Can i drop them at any WC retailer in sydney since i cant remember where i got them from.

Hi All,
We just wanted to post and thank everyone for their patience with this recall. I also wanted to let people know that we have received a great deal of WC Rocks over the last week, and I'm sure will continue to do so over the coming weeks.

We've currently processed the entire lot into our internal records, and will be matching those up to the Wild Country Online DB either this afternoon or Monday morning. There's still a number of sets that have been lodged on WCs site, but not received here in our warehouse.

For those who still have rocks that they haven't sent in, please proceed using the WC Recall Onilne DB, as this will be the most efficient way for everyone (WC and ourselves) to keep track of the batch of returned units.

Regarding replacement stock, we again thank everyone for their patience with this. It is a sad reality that with the recall, a very large proportion of our stock was affected. We are hoping to have replacement stock available to everyone in Early November. We do understand the frustration with this, especially with Spring in full swing and Summer on it's way.

Thanks again for your understanding with recall. We're looking forward to getting everyone back with their gear as soon as possible.

On 18/10/2013 EE wrote:>For those who still have rocks that they haven't sent in, please proceed>using the WC Recall Onilne DB, as this will be the most efficient way for>everyone (WC and ourselves) to keep track of the batch of returned units.

Hi All,
We have had an update from Wild Country which I wanted to pass onto you all:

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Wild Country Rocks Recall Update - Issued 12/11/2013
It is one month since Wild Country took the decision to recall certain batches of Classic and Anodised Rocks due to a very small number of units not making their rated strength. Since then we have had an amazing response from our customers with returns registered on the recall database in over 20 countries.

We are pleased to say that despite the obvious inconvenience the overwhelming majority of feedback has been positive and we would like to thank everybody for their support and patience. We are acutely aware it is extremely frustrating to be without the Rocks that you have returned to us and we are working as quickly as possible to send out replacements.

Managing Director, Martin Atkinson is personally co-ordinating the recall and has issued the following statement to summarise the current situation regarding replacement product:

“As described in the recall notice we have set up a complete new production line to deal with the manufacture of the replacements at our factory in the Peak District. Due to this change in production location there has to be a re-issuing of the CE certificate for Rocks before we can release products in the EU. The type-examination (product testing) has been successfully conducted and the documentation concerning the assessment of conformity (production processes) is now being reviewed by the Notified Body responsible for this assessment process under the EU regulations concerning PPE (personal protective equipment). This means the re-issuing of the certificate is imminent and at this point we will be able to start release of product into the UK. In the meantime we have made some deliveries to the “far-flung corners of the world” and given the distances involved these customers should be receiving their replacement at about the same time as those in the UK.

As I said before we appreciate the frustration of being without your equipment and would like to thank you for your patience and understanding.”

As ever if you have any questions you can get in touch with us.

If you were unaware of this recall and have any Rocks which you think may be involved in the recall you can go to our website to find out more.
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As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.